May 30, 2013

The Fat One is in town. After years of yearning, he's finally opened up a shop here, and we were graced by his presence for a few days. There was a signing event where people (including a number of my friends) lined up to get their books, macaron boxes and who knows what else signed. Not wanting to wait around during office hours - and what would I do with a copy of his Macarons book, anyway? - I decided to ditch my friends and head back to the office.

On the way back, I decided to stop by the shop and check it out. I had heard about the limited number of parfums at the moment, and sure enough there were only 10 on offer. Well, it was high time I checked out the quality myself, after getting all the negative feedback recently. So I dutifully picked out 7 to fit in a small box. In all honesty, I was more excited about having a local supply of the confitures made for the Fat One by Christine Ferber…

After a light dinner of veggies, it was time to inhale.

Huile d'olive et vanille - this was the flavor that really wow'ed me the first time I had macarons from the Fat One. I was amazed that he put a savory ingredient in something that was traditionally sweet… and made it work! The ganache was always gonna be a little soft thanks to the olive oil, but this one was definitely a little gooey…

Infiniment rose - no surprises here. Love the fragrance of rose.

Céleste - I try to keep a jar of Céleste confiture in my kitchen, as it's one of my favorites. Today the inside of the shells were wet and a little soggy.

Imagine - the shells were made with matcha (抹茶) and sesame, and the ganache was black sesame. Very yum, and my favorite of the batch.

Infiniment caramel - usually at the top of my list… and not surprisingly, the ganache was gooey today…

Infiniment praline noisette - I've had this before and it was pretty good.

Infiniment chocolat Pérou - I think this was what I got… strangely this didn't taste like dark chocolate but rather very milky chocolate…

I must say… this was a little disappointing, but not as disastrous as some of the reports I've had back from the others. The shells were not as wet and gooey as I had feared, with the exception of Céleste. The ganache, however, was a different story. Definitely more gooey than I remembered from what I used to buy in Paris or Tokyo, and oozed out with the slightest pressure between the fingers.

One annoying detail was that the shop did not have labels for the macarons in the display counter… one had to ask the staff for each flavor, and at this stage I just don't have enough confidence in the local staff… and I wondered whether the last macaron I devoured was really the one I asked for…

I would have loved to see my friend Susan trying to put her arms around the Fat One in a hug…